Bill B,
I have cruised Lake Michigan for many years and have found her to range from serene to quite scary. One must always respect the lake. Your 22 should be just fine but you have to be careful. To cruise you should have roller furling, 2 or 3 reefs for the main, autopilot, 2 bruce anchors, 2 anchor rodes (175'' to 200'' each), charts, gps, long shaft outboard, inflatable vest with harness, and more. You will be caught in thunderstorms with 35 mph winds and 6 to 8 foot waves but they are usually short in duration. The weather service is: very poor in predicting wind velocity, wind direction, and wave height; fair at predicting thunderstorms; pretty good at predicting major storms; very good at predicting severe weather ( never, ever leave shelter even if they say there is a chance of severe weather as the waves on the lake will be 20 to 30 feet and you will not be able to see very good and will have a hard time breathing as there is so much water in the air). I have cruised the lake in the following boats: Alberg 30, Ericson 39, Frers 38, Lightning Class 19 footer. I now cruise between 30 and 50 days each summer on a Freedom 21. The winds are often light and often fairly heavy. Thunderstorms are a possibility almost every day. Severe weather is a possibility maybe 5 times a summer and while I have holed up quite a few times I have only had a severe storm hit me twice while at anchor and never while on the lake. Always drop your sails before you get hit with a thunderstorm. Never get caught out in a storm with winds over 35 as a 45 mph wind is absolutely much much worse than a 35. I love adventure and therefore have experienced much on the lake. For example I found out that my Freedom 21 is totally out of control with the spinnaker up in 35 knot winds and that when it gets knocked down under these conditions water pours into the cockpit, things break and the spinnaker halyard must be cut. An 11 pound Bruce anchor will hold my Freedom 21 in Round Lake (Charlevoix) in 50 feet of water with 200 feet out in a 35 knot breeze. Cruising is MUCH more fun easy beating, reaching and running and no fun tacking to windward. Give yourself a 3 day window to cross the lake ( if the weather is great today but you don''t have to get back for 3 days you better cross today as you may not get another chance). There are very very few boats which actually cross Lake Michigan as the vast majority of sailors do not like to lose sight of land. I guess I could go on and on.